Garden Clippings

Our blog post today comes from SB as she tells us about her beautiful riverside garden in November.

Our garden appears to be situated in a frost hollow and as a result we have had to scrape the frozen car windscreen on two or three early mornings recently. Regrettably the fabulous display of dahlias was reduced to limp flowers atop blackened stems during one overnight frost. I have since cut them all off to a few inches above the ground and covered them over with a deep blanket of straw. In the past I have dug up and overwintered some of the more prized tubers but I am leaving them all in situ as I have lost none of the plants left out overwinter for the past few years and storage space is limited. The greenhouse is full of tender plants now tucked away for their winter sojourn.

It was necessary to have some major tree surgery carried out to a large willow with many diseased or dead branches which were in peril of falling onto a bridge below. The bridge was designed and built for us by a good friend who sadly passed away at an early age. The bridge is a great asset to the garden and allows a circular walk around the island. We are reminded of our friend when we walk over it and we certainly didn’t want it damaged during a gale. The willow will regenerate from the trunk and stumps of branches.   We now have an enormous pile of future firewood and the whole space has been “opened up” allowing more light into the area of water adjacent to the willow. A white waterlily which has not be flourishing of late should now benefit from the additional light. We had a bonfire of all the small, unusable brush but anything which could be “logged up” has gone onto the firewood pile. Very little has been wasted.

Piles of windfall apples and quince surround the base of the trees. Many were picked but with such a heavy crop unfortunately many were left on the trees, partly due to us being away on holiday at the time of harvesting. Timing a holiday with a productive garden is never easy! However, the moorhens, blackbirds and robins are all enjoying the feast. Wormlike creatures are slowly breaking down the quince plus the voles and mice who come from below to tuck into the fruit lying above their burrows. We have had a sufficient harvest of the crop so we are happy to share with the other residents of our garden.

There are still several insects to be seen in the garden including bees, wasps and the occasional butterfly. I spotted a red admiral only yesterday in the vegetable garden.

I have tulip bulbs to plant in pots on the terrace and several dozen wallflowers to fill the bed beside our gateway. It is good to be thinking of spring and what one will be growing or changing next year.   SB